The competition

The Lynn University Innovation Challenge is a 12-week program open to Lynn students, faculty and staff. The program takes selected teams through Stanford's Lean LaunchPad process to build a venture. The culmination of the program is a pitch to a panel of early stage venture investors.

This year, the winner of the innovation challenge receives a spot in the Tech Runway Venture Program. FAU Tech Runway provides entrepreneurial teams with a complete ecosystem to house, educate, mentor and fund their companies from origination through venture funding. Since its inception in 2014, FAU Tech Runway has launched and served 52 startup companies, which collectively have raised more than $46 million in capital, created nearly 300 jobs and generated more than $23 million in sales revenue.

The innovation challenge launches annually in the fall semester and is run by Lauri Olivier, Sylvester Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship and Director of the Snyder Idea Lab.

This will give today’s musicians the experience they want.

Cameron Hewes, 2017 winner

Past challenges

In 2016, MBA student Stephany Lopez Da Silva won first
place for her company, All Shapes and Colors, which offers specialized
products for same-sex parents and their children. Da Silva's products
include T-shirts, bodysuits, bibs, baby albums, children books, a
surrogacy book and stickers.

The competition's runner-up, MBA student Majed Charife, won for his
company Hire Squire, which helps international students looking to study
in the United States. Entrepreneurship major, Samantha Haag, was the
competitions third-place winner for her company Nerdvana, a nerd-themed
restaurant/social event.

In 2017, Cameron Hewes, a senior in the Conservatory of Music,
won first place and $3,000 with his online store for sheet music, Cam
Co. The fundamentals of Hewes' proposed web-based company are easy
navigation, quality content and powerful search functions, and his
target buyer is internet-savvy college-age musicians.

The competition had two runners-up, Jade Wiggins, who won $1,200 for
her Snap Yoga idea, and Barbara Llossas, who won $800 to support her
business venture, P.E.T. Cap.

Innovative Business Center

Teaching more than 1,000 students from more than 70 nations, the College of Business and Management is the largest—and most international—college at Lynn University.

The College of Business and Management is so large (more than 1,000 students)—and so international (students from nearly 100 countries)—it warranted having its own brand new building: The Mohammed Indimi International Business Center was dedicated in 2014.

The Indimi Center includes lots of space for ingenuity, with incredible options for hands-on, technology-based learning. The center is outfitted with technology systems to enhance the students’ educational environment, with 11 classrooms and a wealth of other areas including:

A Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI), developing skills in the creation and development of new companies

The Venture Lab, a branch of the CEI, which will transform students’ start-up concepts into ready-to-launch businesses

An Investment and Trading Room, providing access to the same resources and technology that students will use in their business careers

Beyond the Classroom, a space for students to enjoy hands-on learning and work on campus with outside companies

A new Career Preparation and Internship Center

In addition, more than 15 other new spaces provide conference and meeting areas for collaboration between students, faculty and outside corporations. In keeping with Lynn's sustainability initiative, which is the largest of its kind in the state, Lynn is pursuing LEED Platinum certification—the highest level of certification awarded by the United States Green Building Coalition. The building's green design features will:

Take advantage of natural sunlight as a lighting source, decreasing the need for artificial lighting